[1] It was the longest running of trains on the Washington-Buffalo route, north through central Pennsylvania on the Buffalo Line, operating from 1900 to the latter years of the 1960s, with a shortened segment until 1971.

[2][3] From Washington, the train's route went northeast to Baltimore on the Pennsy's electrified Washington–New York mainline.

At Baltimore, the train diverged to the PRR's Northern Central Railway subsidiary line north to York and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

[7] Throughout its lifetime, the train's consist included considerable head end equipment carrying mail and express.

The Erie and Buffalo originating branches of that train would converge at Emporium, Pennsylvania, and continue south to Washington.

By this time, the train's sleeper equipment eliminated open-sections and consisted only of roomettes and other private rooms.

[13] When Amtrak began on May 1, 1971, it dropped the line altogether, ending decades of service between Harrisburg and Buffalo, leaving medium-sized cities such as Williamsport outside of the national passenger train network.